Monthly Archives: February 2014

Jordan’s King Abdullah II rejected on Sunday the notion that his country was an "alternative homeland" for Palestinian Arabs, the state news agency Petra reports. “Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine and nothing but that, not in the past or the future," King Abdullah was quoted as having said in a meeting with

Child kidnappings on the rise in Egypt: Rape and ransom phenomenon sweeping Egypt On February 13, 12 year-old Yosef Hassan Shaker left his home in Abu Teshet, a small town in Upper Egypt, with his elementary school classmate and friend. Together they planned to head to school to see what grade they made on

Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi confirmed that the government has resigned on Monday, according to Reuters news agency. “Today the cabinet took a decision to offer its resignation to the president of the republic,” Beblawi said in a televised statement, without giving a clear reason for the decision. Beblawi was appointed after the

Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the Imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, warned Israel on Friday against “harming” the mosque. Sabri, head of the Supreme Muslim Council, declared in a conversation with a Gaza-based news agency that Al-Aqsa was a “red line” for Arabs, adding, “We will not give up even one grain of earth

The UK has formally resumed ties with Iran, AFP reported Thursday, after three years of diplomatic silence. "The UK has agreed with Iran that from today bilateral relations will be conducted directly through non-resident charge d'affaires and officials," a Foreign Office spokesman told AFP. "We will no longer have formal protecting power arrangements in

Islamist rebels in eastern Syria have ordered women to put on the Islamic veil, warning that anyone not doing so would be held to account, Reuters reports. According to the report, an organization calling itself the Islamic Law Council of Deir al-Zor said in a statement released Wednesday that women have until Saturday to

The Palestinian Authority (PA) declared Thursday that it would gladly accept the US framework for peace with Israel -- but only if it was outlined on the PA's own terms. "[The PA] will not agree to any agreement, whether it is a framework agreement or a permanent arrangement, if they do not include the

Jordan is turning to Israel for its natural gas supplies, according to Al-Ahram, after Egyptian pipelines have become unreliable. Noble Energy, the United States based company that runs the Tamar natural gas field off the coast of Israel, signed a $771 million deal with Jordanian gas suppliers on Wednesday. The Arab Potash company and

Hamas's propaganda campaign against ongoing peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) continued Thursday, after the government insisted that the talks are a "conspiracy" against the Palestinian Arab people. Taher Al-Nunu, Hamas's PR consultant, stated vehemently Thursday that the US's framework for an agreement between the two sides in talks "would not